Muslim World League welcomes second phase of Gaza peace plan

A displaced Palestinian mother plays with her child outside her tent shelter erected close to the rubble and debris of homes and businesses destroyed by the Israeli military in over two years of military strikes on the Gaza Strip enclave, in the Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip on January 17, 2026. (AFP)
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Updated 18 January 2026
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Muslim World League welcomes second phase of Gaza peace plan

  • Plan includes US-led oversight board, key role for ex-UK PM Tony Blair
  • Aim is to restore governance, promote economic development in Palestinian enclave

LONDON: The Muslim World League on Saturday welcomed the announcement of the start of the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, including the declaration of a Peace Council and the formation of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.

The MWL praised efforts to end the war in Gaza and advance stability and peace in the Palestinian territories.

The organization commended Trump’s efforts, citing his commitment to the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and his pledge to prevent the annexation of any part of the occupied West Bank.

MWL Secretary-General Mohammed Al-Issa stressed the urgent need for full adherence to the requirements of the second phase of the peace plan, and called for a serious and firm response to any violations.

Al-Issa also highlighted the importance of ensuring sufficient access for humanitarian aid to Gaza and supporting the return of the Palestinian Authority to its responsibilities in the territory.

He said these efforts are essential to ending cycles of violence and conflict, and to establishing a lasting, comprehensive and just peace in line with international resolutions.

The second phase of the peace plan builds on an initial ceasefire, and includes the establishment of a US-led board to oversee Gaza’s post-war administration.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was given a key role on Friday, while a US officer has been appointed to lead a nascent security force.

The announcement follows a meeting in Cairo of a Palestinian committee of technocrats tasked with governing Gaza, which was attended by Jared Kushner, Trump’s senior adviser on the Middle East.

The plan is also intended to promote economic development in Gaza, which has suffered extensive damage during more than two years of Israeli bombardment.


Take back and prosecute your jailed Daesh militants, Iraq tells Europe

Updated 24 January 2026
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Take back and prosecute your jailed Daesh militants, Iraq tells Europe

RAQQA: Baghdad on Friday urged European states to repatriate and prosecute their citizens who fought for Daesh, and who are now being moved to Iraq from detention camps in Syria.

Europeans were among 150 Daesh prisoners transferred so far by the US military from Kurdish custody in Syria. They were among an estimated 7,000 militants due to be moved across the border to Iraq as the Kurdish-led force that has held them for years relinquishes swaths of territory to the advancing Syrian army.
In a telephone call on Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said European countries should take back and prosecute their nationals.
An Iraqi security official said the 150 so far transferred to Iraq were “all leaders of the Daesh group, and some of the most notorious criminals.” They included “Europeans, Asians, Arabs and Iraqis,” he said.
Another Iraqi security source said the group comprised “85 Iraqis and 65 others of various nationalities, including Europeans, Sudanese, Somalis, and people from the Caucasus region.”
They all took part in Daesh operations in Iraq, he said, and were now being held at a prison in Baghdad.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that “non-Iraqi terrorists will be in Iraq temporarily.”
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces jailed thousands of militant fighters and detained tens of thousands of their relatives in camps as it pushed out Daesh in 2019 after five years of fighting.